Sometimes a tiki bar on your back patio just isn’t enough…
And for a while this is all that Kent and Jenny Burns needed. After a while Kent got tired of always having to go back inside to make himself another drink, so he bought a gazebo from Sam’s Club and converted into a backyard tiki bar. This new bar had it all, it had a sink, running water, a refrigerator, television and most importantly… heat! Kent and Jenny live in Illinois and it gets cold in the winter but that doesn’t stop them from enjoying their tiki bar all year long! The name of Kent and Jenny’s tiki bar is called Skipper Burnsy’s Enchanted Tiki Oasis. Read on to learn why…
What is the tiki scene like where you live?
Kent- There’s not any commercial tiki bars within a couple of hours from us. We are in central Illinois, and we typically visit Chicago’s scene (Hala Kahiki, Kahala Koa, Pete’s Tiki Tlki), but also travel for getaways and visit the Inferno Room in Indy, Max’s South Seas Hideaway in Grand Rapids, and Foundation in Milwaukee.
As far as local tiki enthusiasts, Jenny and I thought surely, we are the only people in the Bloomington-Normal area that has a tiki bar at their home. A few years ago, Jenny purchased a really amazing lamp that had monkeys and pineapples on the base. Unfortunately, because our bar is outside, I didn’t feel safe having a lamp on the ground that could get wet. I love visual effects, but electrifying somebody isn’t one of my props. So, I gave it to my brother, who happens to have a tiki bar in his basement and looks amazing there. A year later, she purchased a cool tropical style tall bongo drum as a prop for our bar. It was from the same people that sold her the lamp the prior year. They were chatting, and mentioned they have a tiki bar in their basement. I was on a vacation with my dad, and she called me and said, OMG, I just found new friends that have an incredible tiki bar as well. And of course, we hit it off. We visited theirs, they visited ours. When they visited ours, you could see their eyes looking around and their mind spinning, and you knew they were thinking they wanted an outdoor tiki bar as well. After some major work this year, they just completed their incredible outdoor tiki bar. We travelled with each other to Makahiki at the Inferno Room last year, and have our tickets for this year too.
What brought you into the tiki lifestyle and how long has it been part of your life?
Kent- My first dip into the tiki world was about 18 years ago, when my brother introduced me to Hala Kahiki. I thought it was a cool theme, laid back atmosphere, super retro, and good cocktails but I didn’t fall in love with it immediately. Jenny and I visited there as well a few times, just because we enjoyed the vibe, but we never considered it something we loved. It wasn’t until we visited Trader Sam’s in Orlando that we were bitten by the tiki bug. We love all things Disney, and the magic and show they put into Sam’s, we just wanted to continue reliving the experience. I also visited Trader Sam’s in Anaheim several times when I visited there for work.
What really got us started was our daughter, who was living in Oceanside, California while our son in law was serving in the Marines. Their apartment had a nice upstairs balcony not too far from the ocean. She purchased some 4-foot-tall bamboo fence and lined her patio with it. She had some cute lights and tropical barware, but just chilling on their patio, it made us ask why couldn’t we do the same thing.
Can you give a little history of how it all came together?
Kent- In 2019, we had our old patio removed, and poured a new one, about twice the size. We always had some sort of gazebo on the patio and always loved just relaxing out back. I purchased a metal 12ft x 12ft gazebo from Lowes, and all we had were some wicker chairs and outdoor couch. I hung colored strings of lights. Jenny had a dozen ceramic tropical birds she bought at Disney World she intended to use as decor for her classroom. She changed her classroom theme, and we said they would be very cute in our “tiki bar”. And we had some tropical stuff we just slapped up here and there. Our daughter and son in law moved back to Illinois and she brought back her bamboo fencing material and her barware which we began to utilize. Back then, we were so tickled with the setup, looking back now though, we just laugh at how basic our setup was. I’m almost embarrassed when I see what I posted on Facebook per our “tiki bar”, it was so basic.
We would have friends over for drinks and enjoyed the relaxation we were looking to recreate like we experienced at Trader Sam’s. But I always had to go inside to my kitchen to make drinks. By the time I sat down, I would have to get back up to make another drink. I said I need a bar outside, so I can enjoy the company, and also wanted to make the entire thing more immersive. So, in 2020, I added a 10×10 gazebo from Sam’s Club. My dad built the bar and back bar, and Jenny and I ordered a ton of material from Forever Bamboo to decorate it all. It includes a sink with running water, a refrigerator, television on the back bar for tropical videos, or I watch a ball game instead of watching TV inside.
Since then, you could say a monster was born. We are always on the hunt to find tiki things. We have found so many artifacts and collectibles, we’ve had to build multiple shelves to display everything. I custom make all my own lamps, which I use the bamboo from my daughter’s fence she brought back from Cali. The entire patio is constantly being plussed and always adding something new. We want it to feel alive. We have about 2-3 dozen ceramic birds of different sizes that are always spinning on their perch. The ivy and fake plant life is always moving from the breeze or the fans.
Considering we are in central Illinois, we do have winters. I have clear vinyl curtains to protect everything from the elements, but we also heat the inside, and are able to enjoy the bar year round. I hosted friends over for drinks one January when it was 20 degrees outside, but we were cozy on the patio enjoying cocktails. We also have a Christmas overlay, and decorate everything and make all the lighting red and green and play a tiki Christmas playlist. (No need to show but here’s a pic from outside during Christmas when it’s wrapped up for winter.
It continues to evolve and expand over time. We’ve had four grandsons born in the last three years, so we’ve built a Tahitian style raised playhouse in the backyard. And just recently, to help blend everything together, I tiki-fied my shed to look like a tropical house as well. The one thing I absolutely love is my adult children and grandsons always want to come over. They both live 10 minutes away from us, and we typically host every other weekend a family get together so they can have a cocktail, while the littles can play in the backyard. What more could grandparent ask for?
Any story behind the name of your bar?
Kent- Much like everything we’ve done with our tiki bar, it’s ideas we’ve borrowed from other tiki places we’ve visited. So too it was with the name, it’s a hodge podge. Skipper Burnsy’s Enchanted Tiki Oasis. Skipper from Skipper’s Breezeway. Enchanted from Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Bird Room. and I always considered my patio as my oasis. My goal was to create a tropical getaway 30 seconds from my home office. An oasis getaway was critical in 2020 because we were locked down during Covid and needed something to remove us from reality.
What is your favorite Tiki drink? Why?
What is your favorite Tiki bar? Not including your own!
Kent- Such a difficult question. Will say though the Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai is my favorite. I like the flavor and the amount of different ingredients that go into it. I use Hamilton 86 and Denizen as my base rums and throw a little Meyer’s Dark on top. I know some purists will say that’s not a Mai Tai. But the Royal is my favorite version.
2nd worth mentioning, Coconut Doppelganger. The flavors are incredible. So, complex with the sweets and sours, and just the right balance of rums.
Outside of great drinks, what do you think are essential elements in creating the perfect Tiki environment?
Kent- My goal was to overwhelm all the senses, with sights, sounds, tastes and even smells. Sights: I have uplighting everywhere and different lighting to highlight the bamboo and any decor. Tiki lamps, float balls, birds spinning around, tiki mugs, 100 different rums on display, Coco Joe’s, tons of other tiki artifacts, the creature from the black lagoon, a 6 foot tall mermaid. We sit outside almost every night for a cocktail, and just do 360 degrees in our bar stools and just look at everything we’ve done, like it’s the first time we’ve ever seen it. Sounds: I have a playlist of about 800 songs I rotate that includes your typical tiki list: Exotica, Hawaiian, surf, and lounge music. We also pipe in sounds of a jungle with birds and monkeys in the background. It’s so disappointing to visit a beautiful tiki bar and they are playing club music or 90’s alternative. Tastes: I’m always experimenting with the cocktails to find a new perfect drink. And smells, I do have smell inserts in my fans to blow a smell of the tropics.
What does the future hold for you and your home tiki bar?
Kent- I’m sure we’ll continue to find new ideas as we travel and check out other tiki joints. I’ll continue to make new tiki lamps and other things to hang from the ceiling and other added decor. Jenny started planting banana trees this summer and they are taking off very nicely already, and hoping we can get them to survive the harsh winters here. My next big task is to get more automation for Trader Sam’s style shows. I’d like to add some black light effects, fog, and other ideas. I do have the Sqauks McKaw talking parrot. I also created a monkey box that I control with Alexa, and the crate door opens and closes and the sounds of monkeys screaming. Grandkids love that. But I need to take some time and learn some new automations for more immersive show
Anything else you would like to add?
Kent- What’s made our whole experience of what we created so much fun, is we get to share it with all the various tiki groups out there. And I love seeing what other folks have created so I can steal any of those ideas and make our bar even better. It’s truly a hobby that is such a blast!
